Amusement device



J. G. MALOUF.

AMUSEMENT DEVlCE.-

APPLICATION FILED FEB;27,1920.

Pmmm Nov. 115; 119212.

amusement nnen.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patentedhlov; 15.; 1921..

Application tiled February 27, 1920. Serial No. 381,903.

To all whom it may concern.

Be it known that I, Jenner G. .MALOUF, a

' citizen of the United States of America, and

a resident of the city of Niagara Falls, county of Niagara, and State ofNew York, have invented certain new and useful' improvements inAmusement Devices, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact.descri tion.

y device relates generally to amusement devices and more particularly tothat type which may be used at summer resorts, and is of the type inwhich an imitation bomb is carried by an imitation airplane and whichmaybe dropped at any point in the travel of the airplane at the will ofthe operator.

The principal objectot my invention has been to provide a device of thisnature which shall not only be durable in its construction,

but to provide one which shall develop the lib judgment and test theskill of the operator. The above objects have been accomplished by thedevice shown in the accompanying drawings, of which Figure 1 is a sideelevation of the device, portions thereof being broken away forconvenience of illustration, and showing the electrical circuits,diagrammatically.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged fragmentary, plan view of the bomb dropping deviceof my invention.

Fig. 3 'is a front elevation of a portion of the same.

Figs. 4 and 5 show consecutive positions of a art of the bomb droppingdevice.

ig. 6 is an end elevation of a portion of the device shown in Fig. 2.

Fig. 7 is an enlarged, "fragmentary viewot a modified term of device forcarrying a plurality of bombs.

Fig. 8 is a side view of the bomb showing its looped hanger.

My device comprises in general, an imitation airplane 10, carrying animitation bomb 11, and supported by a trolley 12, which is mounted onwires 13 and 14.

The airplane is provided with a fuselage 15 having wings 16, andcarrying at its middle portion a small, electric motor 17. The electricmotor is provided with a torwardly extending shaft 18 which causes thepropeller 19 to be operated. The shaft 18 has a thimble 20 secured toits forward end. The-thimble 20 is provided at its rear end with aflange 21 and also with a set screw of the other.

22, whereby it maybe securely fastened to the forward end of the shaft18. Mounted upon the forward end of the thimble 20 is a sleeve 23. -Thesleeve is provided on its forward end with a stem 24, on which thepropeller 190i the airplane is rigidly attached. The

sleeve 23 is arranged to have sliding engagement with the thimble 20,and the amount of relative motion between these two parts is limited bya pin 25, carried by the thimble 20 and in engagement with a cam-shapedslot 26 formed in the sleeve 23. 4 The sleeve 23 is provided at its rearend with a flange 27 which is connected with the flange 21 of thethimble by means of a plurality of light, helical springs 28. The flange27 is provided with an annular groove 29 with which the yoke 30 of thebomb dropping device is engageable.

The bomb dropping device comprises a bracket 31, which is securedpreferably to the side of the fuselage 10 by any suitable means. Anoperating rod 32 is slidably carried by the bearings 33 and 34 of thebracket 31 and has its forward end 35 bent inwardly preferably atright-angles and has the yoke 30 secured to the extreme inner endthereof. A slot 36 is provided in the side of the fuselage for thepassage of the end 35 of the rod. Two flanges 37 and 38 are provided atthe rear end of the bracket 31.

These flanges carry pins 39 and 40, respectively. The pins extendthrough the space provided between the flanges 37 and 38 and the outerend of one overlaps the outer end The pins are arranged one above theother, so that there isa space provided between their adj aeent outerends. 4.1 is a trigger which is secured to the rear end of the rod 32and is movable by means of the rod within the spacebetween the flanges37 and 38. Suitable apertures are provided so that the trigger may moveover the pins 39 and 40. A longitudinal slot 42 is provided in thetrigger which extends from its lower end up to a point beyond thelocation of the upper pin d0 carried by the flange 38. The bomb 11 issupported by a looped hanger or book 43 which is located within the slot42 of the trigger when the bomb is being supported by the bomb droppingdevice.

The fuselage 10 is connected preferably by means of a stem 4rd to thetrolley 12. This trolley is provided preferably with rollers 45, 46 andd7. The rollers d5 and 46 are preferably insulated from the trolley 12and to each is connected one of the motor leads 48. The wires 13 and 14are secured to fixed supports 49 and 50 by any suitable means, andhelical springs 51 are preferably provided at the ends of the wires,whereby they are kept taut. In the diagram shown in Fig. l, 5.2represents a suitable source of electrical current, one side of which isconnected with a rheostat 53 by means of a lead 54. The other side ofthe source of power is connected preferably to the wire 13 by means of alead 55. The wire 14 is connected to the rheostat 53 by means of a lead56 through a switch 57.

In Fig. 7 I show a modified form of a bomb dropping device in whichprovision is made for holding a number of bombs, to be dropped insuccession. In this form the bracket 60 is provided with three flanges61, 62 and 63. 64 is the operating rod. which carries a trigger 65between the flanges 61 and 62 and a trigger 66 between the flanges 62and 63. The flanges 61 and 62 each carry, respectively, a pin 67 and 68,arranged in similar manner to the pins 39 and 40 of the other form ofthe device above described. The flange 63 is provided. with two pins 69and 70, arranged one above the other and pointing toward the flange 62.The flange 62 is also provided with two pins 71 and 72. The pin 71projects into the space between the ends of the pins 69 and 70, and thepin 71 is arranged below the pin 69. The ends of the pins 71 and 72extend inwardly beyond the ends of the pins 69 and in a similar mannerto the pins 39 and 40 of the form just above described. The pin 70 islocated between the pins '71 and 72. In this form of device the trigger65 controls a bomb '73, and the trigger 66 controls a bomb 74.

It will be clear that when the switch :57 is closed, current will flowfrom the source of power 52 over lead 54, through rheostat 53 switch 57,lead 56 to the wire 14. It will pass from the wire 14 throughroller 46and to the motor 17 through one of the leads 48. The current will returnto the source of power overrthe otherlead 48, roller 45, wire 13, :andlead 55. When the current is flowing through the motor, it will, ofcourse,

be rotated and thepropeller thereby operated. The speed of the motor,and hence the rate of travel of the airplane, may be governed by therheostat 53. It will be clear that when the propeller 19 is rotated itwill move forwardly, and the pull upon the stud 24 of the sleeve 23 willpull the sleeve forwardly on the thimble 2.0, to the limit of the slot26 and against the tension of the springs 28, after which the propellerwill draw the airplane forwardly. As the sleeve 23 is moved forwardly inrelation to the fixed parts of the airplane, it will be clear that theoperating rod 32 also ha moved forwardly in the bracket 31. When thedevice is set and ready to be operated a bomb 11 is supported by meansof the hanger 43 to the upper pin 40 and wlthin the slot 42 of thetrigger 41. When the relative motion, just above referred to, occurs, itwill be clear that the trigger 41 will pin 40 and drop it upon the pin39 to the position shown in Fig. 4. As long as the motor is rotating thepropeller will be ex- 'pull the hanger 43 of the bomb ofl' from theerting a pull, inasmuch as the wires 13 and 14 are inclined upwardly andgravity tends to return the airplane to its initial starting point. Butjust as soon as the motor is stopped the springs 28 will pull the sleeve23 back to its initial position upon the thimble 20, thereby sliding theoperating -rod in the reverse direction and returning to the pin 67 anddischarge it from the device. During this first starting and stopping ofthe motor the bomb 74 will be dropped from the pin 69 to the pin'71 andoil from this pin to the pin 70. When the motor is again started thetrigger 66 will push the bomb 74 from the pin 70 and drop it upon thepin 72. The second stoppage of the motor will serve to actuate thetrigger 66 so that the bomb 74 will be dropped from the pin 72 andbethereby released. It is obvious that if three bombs are provided,another flange would be arranged on the bracket and three sets of pinswould be provided. In such a form the three bombs would be droppedsuccessively, one at each starting and stopping of the motor.

The object of this device is to drop the bomb on to a target 75 arrangedat some point along the floor line 76. Inasmuch as the bomb is finallyreleased by stopping the motor, the switch 57 is o ned at the time whenthe operator judges t e bomb to be over the target 75. i

While I have shown and described an airplane carrying a releasable bomb,it is obvious that any other supporting element, either movable orstationary, could be employed and that any suitable object other than abomb,may be carried by the supporting element and thereby accomplishsubstantially the same result. For the sake of-convenience and brevityin the appended claims, I have referred to the airplane as thesupporting element, and to the bomb as the releasable object and I donot wish to be confined to the use of an air lane and abomb aspreferably and spec cally shown and ing means carried by describedherein, the object releasing mechanism being clearly capable ofadvantageous use in other combinations than those herein shown anddescribed.

Obviously some modifications of the details herein shown and describedmay be made without departing from the spirit of my invention or thescope of the appended claims, and I do not,'therefore, wish to belimited to the exact embodiment herein shown and described, the formhereinbefore described being merely a preferred embodiment thereof.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is:

1. An amusement device characterized by having a movable supportingelement, propelling means for the element, an object detachablysupported by the element, and means controlled by the movement of thepropelling means for releasing the object step by step v 2. An amusemendevice characterized by having a supporting element, propelling meansfor the element, an object detachably supported by the element, andobject-releasthe element and comprising an operating rod, meanscontrolled by the movement of the propelling means for moving the rod,and means controlled by the rod for releasing the object step by step.

3. An amusement device characterized by having a supporting element,propelling means for the element, an object detachably supported by theelement, and object releasing means carried by the element andcomprising a slidably mounted operating rod,

. means controlled by the propelling means for moving the rod, and meanscontrolled by the rod for releasing the object step by step.

4:- An amusement device characterized by having, in combination with areleasable object, an object supporting means, propelling means for thesupporting means, an object releasing means comprising a trigger,mechanically operated means for actuatin the trigger, and slidable meansassociate with the trigger and actuated by the movement of thepropelling means for releasing the object step by step.

5. An amusement device characterized by having, in combination with areleasable object, provided with a hanger, an object releasing meanscomprising a trigger, means for actuating the trigger, spaced flanges, a

plurality of rigidly mounted supports oppositely arranged between theflanges and as sociated slidably mounted upon the supports, whereby theobject is released step by step.

6. An amusement device characterized by having, in combination with areleasable object, provided with a hanger, an object with the trigger,the object being releasing meansoomprising a trigger, means foractuating the trigger, spaced flanges a plurality of rigidly mountedsupports arranged between the flanges, and associated with the trigger,the supports being spaced apart and having their free ends overlappingeach other, the object being slidably mounted upon the supports, wherebythe object is released step by step.

7. An amusement device characterized by having, in combination with areleasable object, provided with a hanger, leasing means comprising atrigger, a slidably mounted operating rod carrying the trigger, andmeans for moving the rod,

whereby the object is released step by step.

8. An amusement device characterized by an object re-- having, incombination with a releasable object, an object releasing meanscomprising a trigger, a. slidably mounted operating rod carrying thetrigger, power means for actuating the rod in one direction, andresilient means for actuating the rod in the opposite direction.

9. An amusement device characterized by having a supporting element, amotor carried by the supporting element, a pro; peller for the element,means connecting the propeller and the element for producing an axialmovement of the propeller independent of the movement of the supportingelement, an object supported by the element, and means controlled by theaxial movement of the propeller for releasing the object step by step.

10. An amusement device characterized by having, in combination with asupport,- ing element and an object releasing means, a motor, a shaftfor the motor, a thimble carried by the shaft, a sleeve carried by thethimble, a propeller carried by the sleeve, means connecting the sleeveand the thimble, and means connecting the sleeve with the releasingmeans. i

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto

